Business stories that made headlines in week 1 of February 2020

It’s been a momentous week for business news in Ghana, from corporate boardrooms to courtrooms and other interesting sectors.

Some of these high-profile stories filled the business pages for days. Others are likely to continue to dominate the news weeks after.

These are the top business headlines that continue to be read, shared and talked about from 2nd – 6th February.

Below are the trendiest stories of the week

How Airbus paid bribes for the sale of military aircrafts to Ghana in 2009, 2015

According to documents released by a UK Court, it has emerged that some top representatives from government of Ghana under the Mills-Mahama administration took bribes from the world’s largest airliner manufacturer, Airbus between 2009 and 2015.

UK prosecutors said that Airbus employees promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million euros to bribe government officials to acquire a proposed sale of military aircrafts to Ghana.

Though names were not mentioned, the court documents revealed that a close relative of a top government official was "a key decision-maker in respect of the proposed sale of three military transport aircraft, adding that; "A number of Airbus employees knew that (Intermediary 5 (five) as listed by the court was a close relative of a government official from Ghana"

Read the full story originally published by www.ghanaweb.com

Auction of vehicles of collapsed microfinance companies set for Febuary 3

The Receiver of the collapsed 347 microfinance companies and 23 savings and loans and finance house companies has set Monday, February 3 to Friday, February 7, 2020 to auction the first batch of used motor vehicles and motorbikes of the affected companies.

The vehicle brands include Toyota, Hyundai, KIA, Ford, among others.

Read the full story originally published by www.graphic.com.gh

Receivers of collapsed banks recover GH¢1.4 billion cedis in assets – BoG

Governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison, has disclosed that the Receivers of collapsed banks and financial institutions have so far recovered GH¢1.4 billion cedis representing only 8 percent in assets of depositors locked up funds.

According to him, the recovery progress, in terms of recouping the funds, has rather been slow but says there’s an effort to recover the depositor’s funds which have locked up due to the financial sector clean up.

Interest payments on Ghana’s debt increased by 8.97% to 40.71% at the end of Quarter Three (3) of 2019, figures from the Ministry of Finance indicates.

As at 30 September 2018, interest payments alone on loans contracted by the Government of Ghana were estimated to have grown to about 31.73%.

Ghana is expected to have paid GHS19.756 billion as interest payments on loans in 2019. Out of this, GHS4.60 billion was spent on the external debt while GHS15.156 billion was used to service loans contracted from the domestic market.

This was paid out of GHS52.9 billion total revenue and grants obtained. Tax revenue was GHS42.3 billion.

Read the full story originally published by www.ghanaweb.com

Investors ‘fall over each other’ for Ghana bonds

Ghana on Tuesday, January 4 started receiving bids from investors all over the world for a three-tranche Eurobond sale that is expected to raise a total of $3 billion.

Reports said as of 15.30 GMT, investors from Asia and Europe had pledged to lend the country about $15 billion – five times more than the $3 billion the Ministry of Finance was asking for.

Read the full story originally published by www.graphic.com.gh

BoG declared as 2019 Central Bank of the Year

Ghana’s central bank, Bank of Ghana (BoG), has been named winner of the 2019 Central Banking Awards.

The global awards scheme’s report stated that BoG demonstrated its strengths with the delivery of a major banking sector and the microfinance clean-up operation.

It added that the BoG has had an impressive record of achievement, but the most notable is its reform of a seriously undercapitalised and poorly managed banking sector.

It noted that the central bank has also dealt with a complex set of risks, which could have caused serious damage to the country’s economy.

Read the full story originally published by www.ghanaweb.com

Interest payments on Ghana's debt rises by 8.9%

Interest payments on Ghana’s debt increased by 8.97% to 40.71% at the end of Quarter Three (3) of 2019, figures from the Ministry of Finance indicates.

As at 30 September 2018, interest payments alone on loans contracted by the Government of Ghana were estimated to have grown to about 31.73%.

Ghana is expected to have paid GHS19.756 billion as interest payments on loans in 2019. Out of this, GHS4.60 billion was spent on the external debt while GHS15.156 billion was used to service loans contracted from the domestic market.

This was paid out of GHS52.9 billion total revenue and grants obtained. Tax revenue was GHS42.3 billion.

Read the full story originally published by www.classfomonline.com